INTRODUCTIONES ARTIS GRAMMATICE HEBRAICAE
[Alcala de Henares] Spain: Academy of Complutensi, 1526. First separate edition. 8vo. 208, 39, (1) leaves. [Collated complete: leaves (1), A-Z L-8, AA-DD L-8, EE L-7, (1)]. Title page printed in red and black. The text includes an extensive Latin-Hebrew grammar (parts of which originally appeared in the Polyglot Bible of 1515, published by the Complutensian University), Zamora's brief treatise on Hebrew orthography, and a letter by him, printed in Latin, interlined with Hebrew. The letter, entitled "A Letter from the Kingdom of Spain to the Jews in the Roman Community," encourages the Jews of Rome to convert to the Christian faith. Ownership signature of Francisco Hurtado de Mendoza on front endpaper; later bookplate on front pastedown. Somewhat later vellum, title in manuscript on spine. Title page skillfully repaired along top edge and lower outer corner, not affecting text. Printer's mark on title page; two neat ink notes in the margins ["ad deum, ad archiepiscopum"] which are trimmed, taking a few letters from the substantial ink marginalia in Latin and occasionally Hebrew. Item #66601
In an article by Jesus de Prado Plumed, "The Commission of Targum Manuscripts and the Patronage of Christian Hebraism in Sixteenth-Century Castile," [Brill: 2014], the author notes that Alfonso Zamora and his publishing partner Pablo Nunez Coronel "occupied themselves throughout their professional lives as teachers of Hebrew and Aramaic, as textual scholars and as highly skilled professionals active in the book trade." Zamora was a converso, a converted Jew, one of many Spanish citizens forced to choose between expulsion or conversion during the Spanish Inquisition. Modern scholarship indicates he may have continued to practice his religion in secret. [see also the entry for Alfonso de Zamora by George Alexander Kohut in the Jewish Encyclopedia online]. Not often seen in trade, with one copy sold at auction in the past 45 years (ABPC, 1976-2021; 1983, Sotheby's 3,080 British pounds).
Price: $8,500.00